The functional traits of soil protists have been employed in ecological research to enhance comprehension of the underlying mechanisms of ecological processes. Among the numerous soil protists, testate amoebae emerge as a prominent and abundant group, playing a pivotal role in soil micro-food webs. Furthermore, they are regarded as valuable bioindicators for environmental monitoring and palaeoecological studies due to their sensitivity to environmental changes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationship between species diversity and spatial scale is a central topic in spatial community ecology. Latitudinal gradient is among the core mechanisms driving biodiversity distribution on most scales. Patterns of β-diversity along latitudinal gradient have been well studied for aboveground terrestrial and marine communities, whereas soil organisms remain poorly investigated in this regard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Testate amoebae are a polyphyletic group of unicellular eukaryotic organisms that are characterised by a rigid shell and inhabit mostly freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. They are particularly abundant in peatlands, especially in -dominated biotopes. Peatland hydrology is the most important influence on testate amoebae communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUDP-3-(-3-hydroxymyristoyl)--acetylglucosamine deacetylase (LpxC) is a zinc amidase that catalyzes the second step of the biosynthesis of lipid A, which is an outer membrane essential structural component of Gram-negative bacteria. Inhibitors of this enzyme can be attributed to two main categories, non-hydroxamate and hydroxamate inhibitors, with the latter being the most effective given the chelation of Zn in the active site. Compounds containing diacetylene or acetylene tails and the sulfonic head, as well as oxazoline derivatives of hydroxamic acids, are among the LpxC inhibitors with the most profound antibacterial activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), initially characterized as ligand-gated ion channels mediating fast synaptic transmission, are now found in many non-excitable cells and mitochondria where they function in ion-independent manner and regulate vital cellular processes like apoptosis, proliferation, cytokine secretion. Here we show that the nAChRs of α7 subtype are present in the nuclei of liver cells and astrocytoma U373 cell line. As shown by lectin ELISA, the nuclear α7 nAChRs are mature glycoproteins that follow the standard rout of post-translational modifications in Golgi; however, their glycosylation profile is non-identical to that of mitochondrial nAChRs.
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